Page 77 of Axel

And it’s too sexy how he pets the cat but smirks up at me.Tick. Tock.So, I arch an eyebrow and lethally glare at him, making him chuckle.

“I’m notmovingmy boardroom.” He stands. “I moved the thrones, the chairs in it. I found someplace safer to meet because I suspect we’ll be doing another initiation soon.”

“Another initiation?” My logic works too fast. “In Delta’s,right? I gotta say, it’s brilliant—meeting in an adult shop. Now, people will assume you hide a sex addiction, not a rogue mafia operation.”

“I prefer ex-mafia because there’s nothing rogue about us. We have rules and follow orders. We have missions, and complete them.”

“Whose orders?”

“The Queen’s or mine, but all contribute. We all have skills.”

“Which are?”

“Too much intel,” he warns, refreshing Sparky’s water bowl.

“I’ll give you the silent treatment until you tell me.”

He opens the fridge, laughing. “Don’t threaten me with peace and quiet.”

Silently, I seethe while he makes an omelet, smirking like a sinister chef, knowing that I’m bursting to know everything about him.

Until…

“Okay, fine!” I blurt. “I know Sire’s a pastor. He’s your divine cover story. You’re the smug lawyer. Nick’s the cute diversion, the athlete. Nash runs the numbers. Grant does your cyber shit, plus he’s all beefy and cute.” Axel cuts me a look. “But the other two? What do they do?”

He whips eggs with cheese and a silent smile.

“Tell me, or I’ll start training for a marathon, and your ass will have to chase me.” His smile drops. “That’s what I thought. It’s all fun and games being the king until you have to run behind me for twenty-six point two miles with bleeding raw nipples.”

“Fuck me,” he huffs, pouring the egg mixture into a skillet.

“Yeah, we’re not doing that either until you tell me.”

“We’re not doing that until youtrustme.”

His back is turned, but I can hear the sincerity in his vow.

While part of me is dying for Axel. Like I want to pounce on him like a hellcat in heat and make him breed me to repopulate the world.

My heart needs to wait because this is too powerful between us.

The taboo teases he gives me along the way are enough to satisfy me temporarily. I assume they satisfy him, too, because it’s like we both know if we cross over, there’s no going back.

He wants me in his world, but it’s lethal. And I feel him in my heart, but that’s love.

Lethal love.

That’s what we’d be together.

“Jace is my other brother,” he finally answers, turning around. “He’s the head of security at Delta’s and practically Grant’s twin. They look alike and are only ten months apart.” He mutters, “My poor mom.”

I swallow the sudden lump in my throat. I respect this most about Axel. All he’s known is witnessing his mother’s suffering, and now, he can see it in other women, and it enrages him.

He’ll kill for a woman.

And I know he’d die for me.

“Jace is the big teddy bear who bashes skulls.” He keeps going. “That’s his skill. He’s also an expert in surveillance and avoiding it. And then there’s Loch, my baby brother. He wanted to join the Marines, but I convinced him to be a forest ranger instead.”

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